CONTROVERSIAL FRENCH BILL ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE FADES AWAY
By Lucia Kubosova
EUobserver.com, Belgium
Feb 21 2007
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – A French bill criminalising the denial of
Armenian genocide in Turkey has failed to become law, but a prominent
Turkish writer Elif Shafak – previously tried in her country for
comments on the sensitive subject – tells EUobserver about the
nationalist backlash the French debate sparked.
The controversial dispute centres around the claim by Armenia that
Ottoman Turks in 1915 killed an estimated 1.5 million of its citizens –
something Turkey has always strongly denied.
France’s National Assembly last October approved a socialist-drafted
proposal which stated that those denying the genocide should be
punished by one year in prison and pay a fine of ~@45,000.
In order to come into force, the bill would have had to be approved
by the country’s senate where the current centre-right government of
Dominique de Villepin and President Jacques Chirac – both opposing
the bill – holds a majority.
But French diplomats confirmed to EUobserver that as a result of a
political decision, the bill has not been put on the upper house’s
agenda and that the parliamentary session is now almost over ahead
of the electoral campaign for the presidential and legislative poll
to be held in April, May and June.
Asked whether this means the controversial legislation is off the table
even after the new parliament convenes, a French diplomat said the
"draft bill would have to be voted again by the new National Assembly
to resume the process."
Be careful about political power games The bill’s adoption in France’s
lower house last autumn led to strong criticism by both the European
Commission and the Turkish authorities.
It came at the same time as an EU deadline for Ankara to fulfil its
obligation over Cyprus or face a freeze of its membership talks and
was seen in Turkey as yet another negative political message against
its European aspirations.
Elif Shafak, one of the best known Turkish novelists, says that
the French move sparked nationalist reactions in her country that
eventually mainly harmed people like herself who are trying to push for
an open debate about sensitive issues such as the Armenian genocide.
"I think that 1915 is such a sensitive and delicate political theme
that it shouldn’t be subject to political power games. It should not
be up to politicians to decide which version of history should be
acknowledged by everyone," she told EUobserver.
"I criticise my own government for curbing freedom of expression. But
it is a universal principle. If I defend it in Turkey, I will defend
it in France or everywhere with the same zeal and dedication. And
the French bill was very much against this principle."
Ms Shafak was acquitted last September for charges of insulting
Turkish national identity due to comments made by characters in her
latest novel on the mass killings of Armenians in the final years of
the Ottoman Empire.
Just as her other professional counterparts – like the 2006 Nobel
Prize winner Orhan Pamuk – Elif Shafak is a strong critic of Article
301 of Turkey’s penal code which enables legal prosecutions undermining
the freedom of expression in her country.
Spark of hope as part of negative trends But she argues that the
trials in Turkey of intellectuals and authors for their comments
on this and other taboo topics is actually evidence of the ongoing
transformation of Turkish society.
"Whenever there are big societal changes in a country, those people
who want to keep the status quo panic and retaliate. And as Turkey
moves closer to the EU, the people who fear these changes will do
everything they can to stop the process."
Still, the novelist pointed out that while the backlash in the Islamic
country comes from an organised minority, she has come across a much
stronger negative sentiment from Turkish immigrants already living
in Europe – also concerning the Armenian genocide debate.
"I sometimes receive hateful messages, hate emails from nationalist
people reacting to my novels or comments but most of those come from
Turks living abroad rather than those living in Turkey."
She believes the phenomenon can be explained as the "immigrants’
psychology", adding "Most immigrants freeze their mindset and they
become much more conservative. They embrace and defend their identity
strongly because they always try to retaliate in response to a bigger
majority identity.
"Turks living in Europe or in America are less open to social
transformation than those living in Turkey. They are always defensive."